Salman Latif is a software engineer with a specific interest in social media, big data and real-world solutions using the two.Other than that, he is a bit of a gypsy. He also writes in his own blog. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter .

Samsung isn’t exactly known for being among the open-source big-wigs, even though the company has been toying with a number of open-source tools and software. Now, it seems that the Korean electronics maker is planning a serious role in the open-source community.

This is evident from the fact that Samsung donated a whopping half million dollars to Linux Foundation this Tuesday. As a result of this generous donation, Samsung is now officially a part of the Linux Foundation, getting a seat on the board of directors of the organization.

In the words of Samsung Vice President WonJoo Park, “We’re looking forward to increasing collaboration and support for our growing portfolio of Linux-based devices and to making contributions that advance Linux for all.”

Samsung already uses a number of Linux products and has been actively working on Tizen, in collaboration with Intel. Tizen is a new Linux-based platform which has been developed for mobile devices. Naturally, for now, Tizen doesn’t have much traction in face of the wildly popular Linux-based Android, developed by Google.

But by directly becoming a part of the Linux Foundation, Samsung may be able to bolster development on Tizen and push it forth as an alternate open-source platform for mobile devices. Nonetheless, this is a great move both for Samsung and the open-source community, so it is a happy win-win situation for all.

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